The Republic of Ireland was the most expensive country in the EU for alcoholic beverages and tobacco in 2016, with prices roughly 75% higher than average.

The UK and Finland completed the top three most expensive countries in the EU for alcohol and tobacco.

At the other end of the scale, alcohol and tobacco were cheapest to purchase in Bulgaria, with prices approximately 44% lower than the EU average, according to consumer price level data from Eurostat.

The highest prices for food were to be found in Denmark in 2016, where food cost almost 50% more than the EU average. Sweden and Austria completed the top three countries in the EU food prices index.

Ireland was the sixth most expensive place for food prices - 20% more than the EU average. Price levels were lowest in Poland where food cost an average of 40% less than the EU average.

The highest price dispersion across the various sections can be found for alcoholic beverages and tobacco, according to Eurostat. This is mainly due to large differences in taxation on these products across the 28 member states.

The UK was the most expensive of the EU countries for housing costs in 2016, with prices approximately 60% higher than the EU average.

Included in the housing costs are rental costs, water prices, electricity and fuel.

Luxembourg, which was the most expensive of the EU countries for furniture (at 22% higher than the EU average), was the second most expensive country in the EU for housing cost prices, while Denmark completed the top three.

Ireland came in as the fourth most expensive country for housing cost prices - with prices approximately 42% higher than the EU average in 2016.

Much less dispersion is apparent in clothing and footwear where Sweden was the most expensive country, with goods in this category costing over 35% more there than the EU average.

The least expensive country for clothing and footwear was Bulgaria, where prices were just 20% less expensive than the EU average.

In communications, which includes the cost of the postal service, telephone, and internet costs, Ireland was the second most expensive country in the EU, coming in just behind Greece. The UK completed the top three most expensive EU countries for communications.